How long before a credit card sues for a judgement?

[lvmcse]

Hi Guys!

Like everyone here, were are in a financial hardship. I had to stop paying on 2 of my credit cards 6 months ago. But yet I have been making token payments of $50.00 a month to each of the cards. One is Capitol One. What do you guys think?

Thank you.

Lost in San Francisco

[Floridagail]

Cap One sued me after 18mos , forcing me to file chpt 7, my other 6 cards were 26 months without pmts, they never sued me. My Hubby stopped paying his 8 ccs in May 2010 as well as mortgage, No one has sued. (He does not have cap one) He still getting offers to settle. We will not settle as you still get tax 1099 so no point.

[justbroke]

No one can really tell you. They decide based on a number of factors and if you've been making token payments -- extending the statute of limitations -- they may not be so aggressive. Very generally speaking, they wait 180 days to charge off the account (6 months) and then would seek any special recovery through legal proceedings. How aggressive they are can depend on so many factors, it's not worth speculating if they will or not.

However, collection will -- and should be -- already underway. The collection agencies will keep the "file" for some time and then either return it to the creditor or would have bought the debt outright (junk debt buyers -- JDBs). These JDBs then may be more inclined to ratchet up the pressure and threats of lawsuits based on what they paid for the debt (typically pennies on the dollar.. and I do mean pennies) or what the value of the debt is. I can't tell you the ratio because it never makes sense to me.

From what I read, I see that Capitol One is one of those that does pursue unpaid balances.

What is your intent in the long run? Bankruptcy? If so... stop wasting that $50. In fact, the $50/month to each card ($100/month) isn't doing anything really. It's probably not even covering the interest. You probably need a better strategy.

[josephga]

I stopped paying citi bank october of 2009 still haven't been sued and only heard from them twice since then and only by mail. I sent a letter preventing any phone contact.